Cramer Gives a Thumbs Up on Schering-Plough's CEO (SGP)

Cramer has a series of 5 great CEOS for this week that have turned businesses around.  On tonight’s Mad Money on CNBC, Cramer gave much of a turnaround is Fred Hassan of Schering-Plough (SGP-NYSE). 

Hassan took the stock from $17.00+ to $32.00 and it looked like the business was permanent roadkill at the time.  He arrived in 2003 and took over from who he thinks was the worst drug CEO.  Hassan cleaned house with a full overhaul after a series of old fines.  His margins were up because of cost streamlining without a sacrifice to R&D expenses and the company blew out earnings expectations.  Cramer said the company has a great pipeline now and he thinks this one can go far higher.

We have featured our own list of entrenched CEO’s.  Some of these are based on results, and some are based on hype.  There are even some based on the fact that the shareholder control would make it next to impossible to get rid of the corporate leader.  No matter what company you buy, you better make sure you are happy with management.  Here was our Part 1 to the series.  Just last week we named Steve Jobs as the "most entrenched" and it would be hard to find anyone to argue against this pick today.  Larry Ellison of Oracle is on the list, and anyone investing in Oracle (ORCL-NASDAQ) better know it’s effectively his company as long he wants it that way.

Jon C. Ogg
May 14, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.